Three seasons after expletive-filled McKale Center chants led to a string of apologies and conversations, Arizona is reacting to what it called an “unacceptable” anti-LDS chant heard Saturday after BYU beat Arizona 96-95.
Repeated chants of “F— the Mormons,” with claps between each one, appeared to emanate from the UA Zona Zoo student section. They could be heard in the background of ESPN’s telecast during a heated postgame exchange between the Wildcats and Cougars, who had just finished a tense game that featured two controversial calls in the final seconds.
At 12:10 a.m. Sunday morning, about 90 minutes after the game ended, Arizona AD Desiree Reed-Francois issued a statement via Arizona Athletics’ X account.
Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said officials made a “bad call” against Trey Townsend late in UA’s 96-95 loss to BYU but mostly blamed a UA offense that gave up 55.4% shooting and 96 points. Video by Bruce Pascoe, Arizona Daily Star.
“Following tonight’s men’s basketball game, it was brought to our attention that an unacceptable chant occurred,” the statement read. “On behalf of the University of Arizona Athletic Department, we apologize to BYU, their student-athletes, coaches and fans. The chant is not reflective of who we are and should not have happened.”
While BYU is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the Wildcats have a Mormon on their own roster: Walk-on guard Addison Arnold, who redshirted in 2021-22 before going on a two-year LDS mission in Argentina and rejoining them this season.
During the 2021-22 season, following a series of chants against UCLA, then-UA athletic director Dave Heeke said he spoke to leaders and members of UA’s Zona Zoo student section while UA coach Tommy Lloyd also made a plea for them to not “get personal with student-athletes.”
Arizona guard Caleb Love (1) and BYU forward Mawot Mag (0) confront each other as the Cougars celebrate winning 96-95, Tucson, Ariz., Feb. 22, 2025.
After the UCLA game that season, Bruins center Mac Etienne was arrested on a misdemeanor assault charge for spitting toward the UA student section, while chants of “F— you” at Bruins standouts Tyger Campbell and Johnny Juzang were heard from the UA student section during the game. “F— You” chants were also directed at USC’s Boogie Ellis two days later.
On Saturday, fans in the UA student section came up with the exact same anti-LDS chant that BYU heard earlier this season at Providence and in past seasons at USC and Oregon.
“We can all agree that there is certain fan behavior at athletic events that crosses a line. We would hope that more people could see that disparaging someone’s religion crosses that line,” BYU’s athletics department said in a statement to The Salt Lake Tribune after the Providence game. “… We’re not going to make a statement after every incident. We understand that us having to hear some bad words is a small consideration when viewed in the wide landscape of issues in our country or even in college athletics right now.
“However, we also believe that words really do matter, and we believe that we as a society should examine anywhere we can eliminate prejudice and hate.”
On-court heat
Meanwhile, the postgame handshake line grew heated after Arizona’s Caleb Love and BYU’s Mawot Mag continued to jabber at each other, with two UA walk-on players guiding Love back out of the conflict.
“It was just talking,” Love said. “It wasn’t nothing crazy.”
Asked his opinion of what happened, BYU coach Kevin Young said he would have to watch video of it.
“I think it’s just two really competitive groups in a hostile environment and sometimes that happens,” Young said. “But we’re not trying to start anything. So I’ll just see what happened on the film and address it with our team.”
Controversial calls
While Love drew calls that sent him to the free-throw line seven times over the final 2:15, he would have preferred to go one fewer time.
That is, Love indicated he was shortchanged on a layup attempt that drew a foul from BYU’s Fousseyni Traore. Officials ruled that Traore fouled Love before he was in shooting motion, meaning Love was given two free throws but not a layup with a and-one free throw opportunity.
Asked when he felt contact, Love said “as I was going up for my layup. I thought it was an and-one.”
Love hit both free throws to give UA a 95-94 lead but ten seconds later, a defensive call against Arizona’s Trey Townsend sent BYU’s Richie Saunders to the line for what became two game-winning free throws.
Arizona guard Jaden Bradley (0), left, guard Caleb Love (1), forward Trey Townsend (4) and forward Carter Bryant (9) watch the replay on the overhead screen of a Wildcat foul in the last two seconds against BYU at McKale. The Cougars hit both free throws for the 96-95 win.
Townsend, who had sat out most of the second half, was put in the game and defended Saunders as he tried to drive on the outside of the free throw lane about eight feet from the basket. Townsend mostly extended upward as Saunders dipped his shoulder, with some camera angles also appearing to show the two players’ hips and knees briefly colliding.
“It’s a bad call. I mean, whatever. What am I going to say?” UA coach Tommy Lloyd said. “I mean, you hate for a game to be decided by that. Trey, I feel horrible for him. … He played good defense. Guy’s pivoting, pivoting, throws his shoulder at him, throws up a shot and falls down.
“It’s a foul with two seconds to go. It’s the Big 12, that’s what I’m told. And the guy who called it’s one of the best refs, so we’ve got to live with it.”
However, Lloyd appeared more concerned overall about a UA defensive effort that allowed the Cougars to shoot 55.4% from the field and average 1.37 points per possession.
“They scored 93 points up to that point on our home court,” Lloyd said. “That’s the problem … It would have been great to steal a victory, if they don’t call that but still, don’t put yourself in that position. That’s the problem.”
Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd discusses the situation with one of the game officials during a first half time out in the game against BYU, Tucson, Ariz., Feb. 22, 2025.
Challenges ahead
The Wildcats’ loss put them at 18-9 overall and 12-4 in the Big 12, leaving open the possibility that BYU and/or Kansas could push them below the top four seeds for the Big 12 Tournament, in which case they would only receive one bye instead of two.
The Wildcats are in a second-place tie with Texas Tech, while Iowa State is a game back in fourth place and BYU is two games behind in fifth. Kansas is sixth place at 9-7 but will host Arizona on March 8, the final day of the regular season.
But after Saturday’s game, Lloyd appeared most focused only on the immediate future: After a day off Sunday, UA will prepare to host Utah on Wednesday.
“Our guys were casual,” Lloyd said. “A little casual at shootaround, maybe a little casual showing up on time and that stuff don’t work. It don’t work. So we’ve got to step it up. On Monday, I better see the most focused group I’ve seen all year.”
It is possible the Wildcats’ attitude might have been influenced by their 85-74 win at BYU on Feb. 4 and their seven-point road win at Baylor on Monday.
“I told them, I (coached) against BYU for years in the WCC,” Lloyd said. “They have older dudes. They’re going to respond. They’re going to come in with a maturity to this game. We have to have that. We didn’t and they did. And there’s the result.”
